Into a "PITT" of DARKNESS With Paul Jenkins

Interior Page from #1
After 10 years away, Pitt is back in comics! And he’s joined by the Darkness with the recently debuted The Darkness/Pitt #1 (of 3), which finds the Pitt and Jackie Estacado coming head-to-head over an alien infestion in New York City. But aliens aren’t the only ones to blame, Pitt and Darkness has some familiar friends that helped too.

The Darkness/Pitt It marks the long-awaited return of not only Pitt, but artist Dale Keown to the inside of comic books. His work on Incredible Hulk, Pitt and Darkness propelled him into the forefront of in-demand artists in comics. And while in recent year’s he’s focused exclusively on covers and licensing work, he now returns in this new miniseries reuniting him with two of the characters he’s most closely tied to.

And joining him is writer Paul Jenkins. Jenkins, like Keown, hasn’t done as much comics as his fans had hoped he would. After defining work on on titles such as Inhumans, Hellblazer, Sentry, Frontline and others, Jenkins has spent recent time in the realms of video games and film.

Originally announced in 2005, the long wait for this miniseries is now over – with the first issue in stores with issue #2 scheduled to come out September 23rd. So far, the series has shown Jackie Estacado, mafia hitman and current bear of the Darkness, dealing with an alien infection in his town while Pit and his brother Tim are coming at the problem from a different side.

We talked with Jenkins about the series, and working with Keown on Pitt and Darkness.

Nrama: What was the impetus for doing this miniseries, Paul?

Paul Jenkins: Well, I think Dale had been itching to get Pitt back in print for a while and you’ll have to ask him but I think he was understandably nervous about it. Pitt is his baby, and people expect a lot. I have been asked many times if I would do a new Inhumans series and the answer has to be “no.” The memory of Inhumans is better than the actual book, I think. It’s so hard to go back because people rarely like it when you do. Knowing this, I think, is why Dale felt it might work with an outside writer, perhaps a fresh take.

Cover for #2
Nrama: In this, how do Pitt and Darkness cross paths?

Jenkins: Jackie doesn’t like people coming on his turf and messing up the grass. In this case it is a big, smelly, annoyed alien hybrid. It’s going to take a while for them to warm up to each other.

Nrama: How would you describe Pitt and what makes him so remarkable as a character?

Jenkins: Well, in some ways he is totally bad-ass and in charge but I like to think of him as a little naïve. He’s kind of sweet in a way. He could kill eight hundred attacking zombies with one punch but he goes around with a little kid, and protects him. There’s something so cool about a character like that. I think that was always implied in the original series, and I’ve played on it here.

Nrama: Can you compare and contract the characters of Jackie and the Pitt?

Jenkins: Sure. Pitt is kind of a responsible father figure to Tim, while Jackie is like the unruly punk big brother, the rebel. I love using Tim’s viewpoint to establish the difference between the two characters. Jackie doesn’t mind what he does or how he does it. Despite being an alien, I feel Pitt plays more by the rules. They are just bad-ass rules.

Nrama: You worked with Dale for some time previously – what’s it like to reunite with him, on a character he created?

Jenkins: A privilege. I have always loved working with Dale and still point to our Darkness run as one of my favorite comics I have ever worked on. You don’t need me to tell you. Look at the art.

Nrama: You’ve got a long history with the character of the Darkness: writing the title for several years, and also pitching in on the somewhat recent video game. What do you like most about the character?

Jenkins: I can write him smoking cigarettes. I’m not allowed to do that at Marvel.

For more pages from Issue #1, Click Here to launch the preview; And now, find our exclusive look at next week's issue #2 by clicking here!